Shattered Trust
by N7angel
Summary: Lord Rhiallia only ever allowed one man to hold her heart and only ever placed her complete trust in one man, but when Malavai Quinn betrays her, Rhiallia has to question whether or not their love was true on nothing more than a cruel lie.


**A/N: **_**I apologize ahead of time it I don't get Malavai's character down to pact, but I'm not used to writing insanely proper characters lol. Still, I think I've done a decent job. **_

_**This is my take on what goes on between Malavai my light side Sith Warrior after he betrays her.**_

_**I wasn't sure if I should rated **_**K+**_** or **_**T**_**, so I settled on **_**T**_** just to be safe.  
**_

**Disclaimer: **_**I do not own **_**Star Wars The Old Republic**_**.**_

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Lord Rhiallia "Lia" Zorin paced around in her quarters like a caged animal desperately searching for an escape. All her life she had used her emotions to grow stronger in the Dark Side, more powerful, but all she wanted to do now was run away from them, far away where the tears that threatened to spill would not find her. How long had it been since she last cried? – years, at the very least.

The life she'd lived prior to becoming Darth Baras's apprentice had been filled with turmoil and mistrust, no one in the Empire believing she was truly loyal because of the acts of her parents. In an effort to gain information on the Jedi, Lia's Sith parents put her in the hands of an Imperial Intelligence agent who would pose as her father when she was merely two. Two more years passed after arriving in Republic space before the Jedi discovered that she was Force sensitive and took her in to be trained as a Jedi. Per the request of her 'father', they visited each other regularly and she'd always been confused as to why he consistently asked her how she was being trained, about the structure of the Temple, the Jedi Masters, missions, and so on. It wasn't until she was fourteen that she realized she was nothing but a pawn in a game and that he wasn't her father.

When she discovered that she and several other Padawans would be leaving the Temple for some off-world experience, she told her so called father excitedly, looking forward to the challenges her master would place before her as well as spending time with her friends. No sooner had they landed had Sith closed in on them and slaughtered all but her. She'd seen her Jedi master cut down before her and learned that the two Sith leading the attack were her true parents, and she lost it, lashing out with them and the Imperial soldiers in a blinding rage, kicking and screaming as they dragged her onto the ship where she was forced to become a Sith herself.

No one saw her as an acolyte or the child of two powerful Sith, but rather as a liability to the Empire because of the traits the Jedi had embedded into her, and her parents attempted to force it out of her by tattooing an intricate Sith symbol on her forehead that extended down the bridge of her nose with two other tattoos extending from the outer corners of her eyes. It had infuriated her, but she'd abandoned many of the Jedi ways she'd been taught and embraced her Sith heritage with the goal of one day becoming better than her parents, better than any other Sith alive.

Some traits did stick with her, however.

She was merciful to a fault, preferring not to kill – though she did so if it meant keeping her skin intact – and was a rather decent person, and was mildly against torture unless it could get the results she needed. Vette certainly thought she was kind for a Sith, and they regularly spoke just for the hell of it. The Twi'lek girl once questioned whether or not she would hurt her if she disobeyed, and Lia had assured her that while she may raise her hand to strike, she would never do so.

She'd sworn that she would never harm a friend or loved one, but so help her all she could think about was choking Malavai Quinn until his life left him.

He was the only man she'd ever allowed into her heart and bed, the only man she'd ever trusted not to betray her, and he'd done just that and came so close to killing her.

The young Sith ceased her pacing and braced her hands on the dresser, her long light blond hair falling around her face like a curtain, tangled from her furiously yanking out the pins that kept it up in a sophisticated style most of the time.

How could she have not seen this betrayal coming? Being a Sith meant always looking over ones' shoulder, but she let him in without a second thought. They didn't always see eye to eye, but she loved him and had been sure that he loved her despite her past. But now… now she wasn't sure she believed anything he ever said to her.

By all rights she should have cut him down after the battle. He hadn't appeared to be willing to put up any further fight after she'd wounded him by slashing his side with her lightsaber – not a life threatening wound in the slightest, but rather an incredibly painful one. Instead, she'd expressed her understanding for his betrayal and granted him permission to stay on the ship, though she'd made it very clear that he was no longer welcome in her personal life.

Sighing, Lia moved to sit on his side of the bed, grabbing the pillow and holding it in her arms as she breathed in his scent, hating the ache it brought to her chest. Her mind told her to keep him beyond arm's length, but her heart wanted nothing more than to fall into his familiar embrace and forget everything.

A buzz at her door snapped her from her thoughts, but she didn't bother looking up to see who was there as she waved her hand and opened the door. She'd know his presence in the Force anywhere.

Hesitantly, Quinn stepped into their – her – quarters, bowing respectfully and just barely masking the hiss that escaped him when the action jarred his wounded side. "I apologize for disturbing you, my lord, but given our standing I felt it was prudent that I remove my belongings and return them to my original quarters."

"Then get to it, Captain," Lia bit out, wanting him out before her waning control on her emotions slipped beyond her grasp.

Quinn silently went about gathering his belongings, and each time he took an article of clothing out of the dresser and closet they shared or remove various documents of his from the desk, she felt a piece of the love they shared slip away, each item leaving making it more and more clear that what they'd had, as beautiful as it had been, was over and nothing more than a lie he'd allowed her to believe.

She desperately wished she hadn't changed out of her armor and into her loose tunic. She'd been seeking relief from the heavy armor by dressing in something more comfortable, but now she felt naked, as if the armor would keep her heart and feelings locked inside and away from her husband.

"My lord…?"

"What?" she questioned, refusing to look at him even as he came to stand in front of her.

"I was wondering if you wanted to keep your ring, or if you would like me to take it with me and be rid of it," he asked quietly. "It's very much yours if you want it, as is what it represents, but… What others think does not matter – if you do not wish to remain my wife, I understand completely."

Lia set the pillow aside and turned her dark brown eyes to the ring on her finger. For appearances sake, she'd informed him that they would remain married though he wasn't welcome in her heart anymore. She wanted to take it off, to throw it at him, but her hands wouldn't obey her commands and she bit the inside of her cheek.

Voice hardly above a whisper, she asked, "Did you ever love me, or was it just a cruel lie to get me to trust you before you stabbed me in the back?" At the very least, she needed to know if she meant nothing to him or if he actually loved her.

Quinn knelt in front of her, taking her smaller hand in his and placed a kiss on her palm before holding it tightly. "It was very real, Lia," he replied, the use of her nickname making her vision blur. It had taken a long time to get him to refer to her by her first name, but his use of her nickname had been said by him without thinking and it had brought a triumphant grin to her face the first time he said it. But no smile graced her lips now. "Darth Baras contacted me long after our marriage, not before. I've fed many lies to you as of late, but my love for you was never among them."

At that, the woman rose to her feet, wrenching her hand from his and moving to the opposite side of the room, and said bitterly, "Then that makes the sting of your betrayal all the more painful."

"I know-"

"No, you don't know!" she shouted, rounding on him as he rose to go to her, stopping him dead in his tracks. "I trusted you with my heart, my body, my life, with everything and you made a fool out of me. Your statement of your love for me being true makes it that much worse because despite everything we've shared you hadn't a second thought about tucking your tail between your legs and returning to Baras like a loyal pet afraid of being scolded."

"You think my decision to betray you was an easy one?" Quinn demanded with a tone sharper than he'd ever dared use against her.

Clenching her fists, feeling her control slipping, she hissed through her teeth, "Get out."

Quinn locked his blue eyes with hers for a long moment before turning to the door. But rather than leave, he closed it and engage the locks. "No."

"I gave you an order, _Captain_," Lia snarled, oh so tempted to send him straight through the door and out the air lock.

"And I respectfully decline your order, my lord."

Lia gaped at him. He'd never disobeyed an order from her before, never, and she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

Using her astonishment as an opportunity to speak his piece, the Captain spoke quickly, voice thick with emotion, "When Baras contacted me, he appealed to my logic and listed all that he'd done for me and my career. Without him, I would have been left to rot essentially. Via fear and a sense of obligation…"

"I don't need to know why you sided with him, Malavai," she interrupted, not wanting to hear it. "Baras was my master, and I am fully aware of the pull he has on people. No, I don't need to hear the specifics of your betrayal. What I need to hear is why you – not Captain Quinn the Imperial soldier, but Malavai Quinn my husband – could just damn everything we had and stab me in the back. Did I ever give you reason to question my loyalty, was I not a good wife, tell me, Malavai, what in the hell did I ever do to you?" she demanded, feeling her eyes burn as her raging emotions morphed her brown eyes into a Sithly yellow color.

Despite her Jedi upbringing, after learning the truth and being brought back to the Empire she'd done things that greatly harmed the Jedi, such as allowing a captured Jedi on Korriban to return to the Republic with false information that would allow the Sith to make a critical strike against the Jedi. She hadn't liked doing so, but she was a Sith and she wouldn't go against the Empire. She might be too lenient, but she was loyal to the Empire and was sure Quinn knew that. As for being a good wife, she didn't cook, didn't clean, didn't do any of those things, but she'd meant it when she promised to love him and honor him, and she'd done so. She'd thought he was happy and that nothing could shake his loyalty to her. Obviously, she was wrong.

Typically masking his emotions quite well, Quinn now appeared to wear his emotions on his sleeve, sorrow, fear, and guilt radiating off of him in waves that further fueled her anger. But amongst the tide of negative emotions, she felt one bright and warm emotion emitting from him but she dared not acknowledge it.

Watching her closely, the man she once called her lover approached her slowly until he was directly in front of her. He made to reach out and touch her, but thought better of it and returned his hand to his side. "It was nothing you did, that I can assure you. You are the most loyal Sith I have ever come across, certainly the most merciful, and have been the perfect wife. I could never have asked for a better bride. It was my own weakness that caused me to stray from you, my own actions. I love you, Lia."

The Sith bit her lip. She'd prayed he wouldn't speak those words to her, knowing that they would weaken her resolve, and they did, causing her to turn her eyes to the ground. It wasn't fair, none of it was.

"You don't know how much I hate you right now, Malavai," Lia commented bitterly, his own pain cutting through her like a lightsaber's blade. "I want to hurt you just as you have hurt me, make you suffer and beg for death before I end your life, and I hate that I feel that way because it means that you've not only broken my heart, but shattered it if I am considering killing you."

"Rhiallia," Quinn started slowly before trailing off. Sighing, he took the lightsaber from her belt and she tensed, uncertain of what he was doing. For a moment he merely tested its weight in his hands, but to her horror, he placed the lightsaber in her hands and urged her to hold the business end against his gut. "I never wished to bring you such pain, and knowing I've done so kills me. If my death will bring an end to that pain, then my life is yours to take."

She stared at the lightsaber in her hands and against Quinn's gut. Her thumb hovered over the button, tempted spear him with the crimson blade, but the thought made her chest tighten painfully. She loved him, even after all he'd done to her. Her trust in him had been shaken and would take a long time to mend, if it ever did, but the love was still there, and her hands began to shake as the wall around her emotions began to crumble. A gentle hand rose to her cheek and the man in front of her wiped a stray tear away, and she pressed her cheek further into his hand as she felt the burning in her eyes subside. With a shaky breath, she returned the lightsaber to her belt.

Not a second later she was tightly wrapped in his arms, her face pressed into his neck while her own arms went around his middle, careful of his wounded side. The road before them would be rough and it would take a long time for their relationship to mend and return to what it had once been, but she wanted to try at least. She was his just as he was hers, and it would work out one way or another. It had to.

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_**Reviews are welcome. In fact, they're encouraged!**_


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